1. COOKING CLASS ? Fill several small plastic bowls with small amounts of different cereals, dried fruit, chocolate chips, pretzel pieces, etc. and put them on the kitchen table. Then set out some plastic measuring cups, wooden spoons, big plastic mixing bowls, and measuring spoons and set them to work at the table.

2. BAKE MUFFINS ? Let them stir and add the ingredients

3. BATH TIME - An extra bath can keep them amused and fill in time.

4. PLAY DOUGH - usually on a plastic mat on the kitchen floor whilst I'm cooking dinner

5. DRESS UPS ? fun for boys and girls

6. TEA PARTY - in an indoor tent or under a blanket propped up over some chairs.

7. MUSIC - I have a container just for musical instruments. I put on a cd and DD and I go for it.

8. CHALK - Chunky chalk and let them draw all over the cement on the back patio or driveway. It hoses off really easily and actually hosing it off becomes another game in itself

9. PAINTING - the outside house wall or cement with a paint brush and water (you can also add food colouring)

10. FINGER PAINTING (mummy has to be in the mood lol)

11. CHORES - Making a game out of household chores. DS pushes the vacuum cleaner and checking the mail has become a big event!

12. CHALK - Drawing on the chalk board easel

13.) GROCERY SHOPPING FOR DINNER ?Decide what you are having for dinner and let them go shopping for the items in the pantry. Give them a small cloth shopping bag, they can then all of there shopping on the counter ready for cooking dinner.

14) MAGAZINES - Make collages with pictures from magazines. Mummy does the cutting out, toddler does the sticking on.

15) CLOTHES SORT - when folding the washing ask them to sort the washing into piles with you. Mummies, Daddies and theirs

You could also sort the different types of clothing eg underwear/pajamas/shorts/shirts or where the clothing belongs draws/hanging and help to put it away.

16) WATER THE GARDEN - give your child a plastic watering can and fill it up with water and let them "water the plants" or whatever else their little heart desires.

17) WATER PISTOL - A big water pistol and let them loose outside

18) PHOTO ALBUM - Make up a photo album of extra photos that your toddler can look through - especially ones of family and friends.

19) KITCHEN - give them a couple of small bowls - one with water in. Let them pour the water from one bowl to another.

20) OUTDOOR SANDPIT

21) SORTING - recycling into piles of similar things. (But make sure there aren't any sharp things in there before you set your toddler to work).

22.) COLOR MATCHING GAMES - Find several small objects of different colors, and show your toddler how to sort them by color.

23.) CLEANING - Put 'Em To Work! Give them a cloth and let them do the cleaning. Wipe the fridge, the cupboard doors, the dishwasher etc.

24. HIDE AND SEEK.

25. READ BOOKS

26. DISHWASHER - Unstack the dishwasher. Obviously supervised

27) DOG - Feed the dog a treat

28) SWEEPING ? Give them a broom and let them sweep the patio or garage

40) TRUCKS - Pile of toddler-hand-sized pebbles (e.g. the kind you get at a garden store) + toy tip-truck = many minutes of fun filling truck with pebbles, pulling it around, emptying out stones (good exercise in teaching not to throw/eat stones & requires fairly close supervision)

41) BOX CUBBY HOUSE - House made out of large cardboard box (e.g. fridge/washing machine box) - make holes for door/windows, tape on some scrap fabric for curtains and make a couple of peepholes - great for playing peekaboo with mum/dad and for entertaining dolls & teddy bears. Toddler can also decorate outside of house with crayons/textas/paint.

44) INDOOR CUBBY HOUSE - with sheets & chairs then put a picnic rug & some pillows in there. We sometimes even have lunch & a story in the cubby house, and then have lots of fun jumping into the middle of the sheets to pull it down.

45) JELL-O BRICKS ? Make jelly together

46) SCAVENGER HUNT I made a list (with pictures) of things we had to find on a walk (e.g., a rock, a stick, a leaf) give them a little bag or basket to collect everything.

47) FRIDGE MAGNETS Buy lots of different ones and/or the alphabet ones and put them at toddler height. Great entertainment whilst you are cooking or washing up.

48) ROLL OF PAPER - Roll of cheap greaseproof paper is a good one. Buy a cheap roll and let them play by rolling it up and out.

49. STICKERS - those sheets of metallic stickers that you find along random supermarket aisles are good because they are easy to peel off things. Stick a couple on each

51. PLAYING CARDS - Give them a deck of playing cards or old trading cards - they bend them up and make a mess but have fun playing and looking at the pictures.

52. FLY A KITE

53. DRESS UPS

54. SAUSAGE SIZZLE - We often take some snags and bread and sauce to the park. Nothing fancy - and most parks seem to have BBQ's.

55. FLASH CARDS - Make your own number flash cards or print some off the net and stick them onto cardboard after colouring them in. We play with them at the table after a meal and I deal them out and we play snap etc. Or I arrange them in order on the floor and they use them as stepping stones while we count out loud.

56. WASHING - Help with hanging out the washing ? They can pass and count the pegs as you go.

57. DRAWING - Cheap butchers paper and let them draw away

58. PICNIC LUNCH - Just gather up food, drinks, kids and a quilt and head for the great outdoors (backyard is good or meeting daddy for lunch in the park in town is better) It's also a great opportunity to practice drinking with a real cup.

59. TRACING - Another good use for butchers paper is to trace around the child laying on the floor, then let them decorate/draw in eyes etc themselves!! You can use wool for hair, fabric for clothes, or just crayons or pencils...depending on time/mess factors

60) STORY TIME - Find out if your local library holds a "Story Time" for pre-schoolers (ages 0-4). The children's librarian reads the children a selection of books and this is followed by a craft activity. The best thing about story time at the Library is that it's FREE!

61) MAKE A CHALK BOARD from Ply wood, chalkboard paint, paint brush and some sticky numbers. Painted it with two coats and let it dry.

62) COLOURING - Crayons and a well defined colouring book

63) WINDOW PAINTING - Shaving cream paining on the windows, just hose off when done and no major mess! Just smelly kids!

64) PICK UP THE PEGS - When take off the washing drop the pegs on the floor and get child to pick them up and put them in a bucket.

65) COOKING - Sit them on the bench away from 'sharps' and let them see and smell what you're doing.

66) MUSIC - have a special cupboard and sometimes fill them up with rice, sand etc 67) BATH TIME - Sit in the bath with them, sing songs and play with the water. Easy hour filler and so relaxing!

69) ART - Make faces and objects with paper plates, use crayons, cotton wool, anything around the house

70) PRETEND COOKING ? Give them a saucepan and a big spoon to make me a "ake"! Then thy can pretend to feed it to you.

71) PRETEND SHOPPING - at home with a little trolley and groceries

72) CREATE - Have a spare box in the kitchen to collect anything that could be used to build anything. Give child the box of goodies when sufficient and have glue and let them create.

73) SING AND DANCE

74) FRIDGE PHONICS by leapfrog. Ask them to find something beginning with a certain letter. Start with the letters in their own name. A great distraction

75) FEELY BOX - where you can put favourite toys or whatever your imagination allows. Encourage your child to tell you what is in the box by feeling it. Demonstrate to them by using lots of describing words. Great one to build their vocabulary too, as well as heightening their other senses.

76) GUESS THE FOOD - Children close their eyes and put some food samples in their mouths. Can they guess what it is?

77) PHOTO?S - looking through photo albums with pictures of herself and other family members.

78) ROLLER PAINTING - Fill empty roll on deoderant bottles with paint and let them roll some pictures (I'm still saving up the bottles)

79. BEANBAGS - are really useful for lots of games - we throw them through or into a hula hoop and balance them on our feet and they also make good pillows for soft toys and dolls.

80) JIGSAW PUZZLES - they come in all different levels for all ages and can be bought second hand as well as new!

81) SHAPES - Cut a hole in the lid of an icecream container. Fill the container full of pegs or bits and pieces and watch them amuse themselves for ages..putting things in and out of it.

82) RICE?SAND PIT? - If you hate sand going everywhere, why not try rice. i buy massive bags of rice and put it in a 'shell'. The kids can still use all of the sand toys in the rice and you don't get sand through the house.

83) BALLOONS - Hang balloons from the clothes line. Make 'bats' out of a clothes wire hanger and a stocking. Stretch the hanger from the bottom to make a kind of diamond shape. Slip a stocking over the the bottom and fasten at the 'neck' of the hanger. The kiddies love this as they get to bash away at the balloons without them bursting.

84) PLAYDOUGH

85) WATER - anything with water in it.

86) CHRISTMAS CHAINS - Remember we use to do them in school. Cut out strips of paper and staple or tape them together to make a chain.

87) TRANSPORT - Go for a ride on a train, tram or bus

88) BAG POTATOES -a 2kg bag of baby new potatoes can entertain for days. Put them in (and out and in etc) muffin tins and roasting tins, flung them around the living room, "cooked" them, did the 'hot potato' etc.

89) "PLAYGROUND CRAWL" - look in the UBD or on your council's website for the local playgrounds and parks and "discover" them one by one.

90) VISIT THE ZOO - buy a zoo pass and go to Taronga Zoo to visit the animals - elephants one week, giraffes the next etc.

91) GARDENING - let your toddler help you replant or get rid of weeds, water the garden, etc.

92) AEROPLANES - cut out aeroplane shapes from cardboard and make an aeroplane mobile - invovles painting, glitter and fuzzy things to stick on. Dont forget to draw in the pilot.

93) MILESTONES - Check the "what to expect" for toddlers and find out what he should be able to do, but doesn?;t. Teach him how to do it, eg. jumping, walking on a beam, etc.

94) SIMON SAYS - practice turn taking with "Simon says"

95) CLAPPING GAMES play hand slapping games with songs (make them simple)

96) BOX PLAY- decorate a large cardboard box, lay down a blue towel for a river, then sit in the box on the river and play "row row row your boat". Dont forget to point out the Crocodiles and Platypuses.

97) STICKERS - sticker books are excellent fun - watch your toddler pull all the stickers out and decorate their own scrap book (or themselves)

100) SOCCER - make objects into goals or set obstacle courses and kick the ball around.

101) FRISBIES - Need I say more.

102) OBSTACLE COURSES - you can set these up also without the soccerball. Something to jump over, crawl under, climb through etc. Outdoor furniture can be useful.

103) GO FOR A WALK

104) GO FOR A BIKE RIDE

105) FINGER PAINTING - Jelly and instant pudding make great finger painting stuff! Doesn't matter if they eat it and it washes out

106) SPRAY PAINTING ? Use a white sheet for spray painting. Have spray packs with food colouring and water for the kids to spray the sheet. Ends up looking like tie dying - but washes out so you can use the sheet over and over again!

107) Drawing

108) Reading

109) Walking/Tricycle

110) Cooking

111) Play with Train Set

112) Cubby in the loungeroom

113) Dancing and singing

114) Help with chores

115) Pots and pans and a wooden spoon to bang them with

116) Collage - - using old junk materials, such as cereal boxes, etc. You can also get cheap materials to glue on from cheap shops, such as foam shapes, feathers, paddle pop sticks etc. We offer the kids, access to glue and sticky tape, their imaginations at this activity is just extraordinary. Nature collage- find things in your own backyard, environment to glue make things

117) Music games - they love musical statues, chairs.

118) Magic paintings - draw on white paper with a candle, then Paint over with water colours and see your picture emerge! Its like magic

119) Role play activities - dressing up, acting out fairy tales

120) Make fairy wings, different costumes, masks with art materials

121) Obstacle course using your furniture - arrange furniture in such a way that encourages physical development. eg. crawling under a table, climbing over chairs, stepping on cushions etc.

128) Our day carer has a white sheet that she uses for spray painting. She has spray packs with food colouring and water for the kids to spray the sheet. Ends up looking like tye dying - but washes out so you can use the sheet over and over again

129) Jelly and instant pudding make great finger painting stuff! Doesn't matter if they eat it and it washes out

130) Get an empty nappy box, cut a hole in the side of it, so its like a letterbox, and post anything and everything that will fit.

131) Buy some cheap brightly colored construction paper (not sure if you call it that in Oz, but it's just bright paper used for making all sorts of crafts). Take a small pile of the paper and cut out little squares, rectangles, circles, ovals, hearts, etc. Put all of the little shapes in a bowl with a lid. Let your toddler pick shapes from the bowl and then help him/her paste them onto another sheet of paper for an instant collage. Then let your toddler embellish the collage with crayon drawings -- instant masterpiece!

132) Feeding the native birds, I buy a weekly bag of seed for the native parrots, cockatoos, pigeons and my daughter puts out the seed and loves watching them feed, she also helps fill the bird bath.

Craft Box Ideas

PaintsGlue/glue sticksGlitterpaper platespipe cleanersfinger paintscellophaneicypole sticksstickerspaperpacks from craft placesbeadsstring gluegoogly eyesPaper towel and dunny roll tubes old mags ribbongold/silver papercardboard Sponges to sponge paint withlace, material, foam, buttons yogurt tubsfeltstrawspom pomssticky tapepainticecream containerssqueezy containers that mayo comes in (good for paint)orange/onion bagsbubble wrapcurling ribbongum nutsleavescereal boxestissue paperwrapping paperscissorsrulersfelt penscrayonscoloured pencilspuff paintsstraw or raffiaalfoil, pie tinssequinscorksbottle topsmilk topspasta, lentils, legumestake away containersjewelery from op shopscrepe papershellssandconfettipegsstaplerrubber stamps & stamp padcookie cutters (for play doh and for stencils)stencilstissueschux wipes (for clean up and cut into pieces for collage)cotton buds for painting withcotton wool ballspermanent markerstanley knifemasking tapebluetacmagnets (I just cut up the cheap advertising ones that you get and stick them on the back of things that you have made)paper clipssplit pins (then ones that you push through things and allows things to move)rubber bandspaintbrushescolouring in bookschalk (you can wet it and draw on ordinary paper with it as well as use on a chalkboard)textasfeathersfoam shapesegg cartonsPut faces and streamer hair on cardboard toilet rolls. Like little puppetsStampslacing cards - picture cards with holes for lacing wool through

Thanks to the member Tan for compiling this list.

If you have any additional craft ideas, please feel free to add your ideas to this thread

Hi guys! I'm new here as you all can see! I have 3 kids aged 4, 7 and 10 and they seem to love their Ipad! Actually it's my ipad lol, but I didnt have anything better to do with it so I downloaded a few educational games for them and now they're stuck to it! Sigh, so much for teaching them crafty stuff!

So I found another game for kids! It's called Animal Wiz (https://itunes.apple...d603843703?mt=8) and its quite educational I felt. Well you you, to teach kids all these different animal sounds and it was really quite shocking when my 4 year old daughter recognized the sound of an owl on her SECOND try!! Even I did not what an owl sounded like, tbh. Anyway, just wanted to tell you all that it's a great game Animal Wiz, and highly recommend it to all parents with kids in the kindergarten age

Awesome list! This is going to be extremely helpful while I host my next playgroup session! I have found many good resources at http://www.jumpstart.com/ and in the Parent section. They have excellent games and printables that have provided me with fun resources for my little one, Betty and for my playgroup friends and their kids.